Interview: Sharifa Khanam, Director, Steps, Pudukottai

Should women have separate mosques? Dominant Muslim opinion would be against such a suggestion. But what if the existing mosques declare their premises to be male preserve, do not create provision for entry of women or even spread calumny about women who demand such reforms. The question begs an answer from the community.

But the buck does not stop there. It throws up a lot many supplementary questions. The holy Prophet, (Pbuh) did not prohibit women from coming to the mosque. He rather facilitated their presence, by often cutting down on recitation, if a child was heard crying. Women are therefore found praying in mosques all across the Middle East. Not alone this. Mosques in America have emerged a trendsetter in matters of developing architectural provisions for accommodating both men and women.

Against this background, the clerics in India seek to bar the entry of women taking support from another hadith that suggests that it is better for women to pray inside their homes than in the mosque. This seems to be a very simplistic understanding of the issue in a world where gender rights are gathering a shaper edge with passage of each day. Banishing women from mosques also raises serious question of gender justice as mosques are meant to serve as community centres. Its repercussions are also evident from the fact that most of the time the mosque jamaaths, a unit of community oganisation exclusive to South Indian states, keep out women while deciding family disputes. It is common knowledge that Pallivasal Jamaats in states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu decide matters such as nikah, divorce, alimony, property, custody of children etc. The police, instead of registering such cases, refer them to the jamaaths. Viewed from the angle of the community, this is a healthy trend as it offers opportunity for reconciliation and arbitration by elders of the community and seeking a solution within the confines of the community.

Going even further, when women could attend urs in Dargahs and could go for movies in theatre, is it fair to bar women from the sacred space by the jamaaths? How long should the absurdity persist? And what if continued denial of justice to women leads to some of them setting up women’s mosque.

It was perhaps such circumstances that propelled Sharifa Khanum of Pudukottai in Tamil Nadu to set up a mosque for women in Pudukottai, 110 kms from Madurai. Sharifa, an MA in History and also holding a degree from the Aligarh Muslim University heads an organisation called ‘Steps’. She was in Bangalore with a group of nearly 25 women attending a workshop on gender justice and reproductive rights of women at Visthar, an NGO, last fortnight. She spoke to Maqbool Ahmed Siraj for Islamic Voice.

There is a lot of opposition against your initiative of setting up a mosque for women in Pudukottai?

This situation has come about due to the denial of space for women in the mosques. The Pallivasal jamaaths in rural parts of Tamil Nadu ignore the rights of women. Since women’s entry is barred, their version is not even heard while deciding the matrimonial disputes. They act like Kangaroo courts and police still refer cases to them. When Rajitha of Karaikudi was divorced by her husband Shamsudeen after 19 years of marriage, the Jamaath passed the orders for her eviction from the marital home and granted her no maintenance. We took her case and restored her in the home where she had lived for 19 years and obtained maintenance from her husband. We had to take up the construction of mosque for women, as we found Muslim women need space of their own. There is a need for gender sensitisation among them.

But women in all communities suffer because of their secondary role in the family and marginalised status in the society?

It is why I and our society, ‘Steps’ are working for all women. Some Muslim organisations of Tamil Nadu would like to paint me as an anti-Muslim activist solely guided by a one-point agenda of building a mosque for women in Pudukottai. I have made a profound study of the Quran and found no anti-women remarks. It lends an autonomous personality to women.

As an adolescent girl, I had seen how my brother used to rebuke us for standing at the door of the house. I remember to have seen a dream of myself riding a bicycle. I had observed that no women could stand in Pudukottai bus stand, be they Muslim or Hindu. Even today no women can book a room for themselves in hotels all across the country. These are causes that are not exclusive to Muslim women. Women require separate lavatories everywhere, but civic authorities ignore these needs. We have fought against these. We convinced the woman district collector of Pudukottai about injustice to women. She got us land near the bus stand and we have built our office there. As for the mosque, I have donated my own land and funding its construction with my own money.

Our struggle is not Muslim specific. We have fought and got land pattas registered in the name of women and joint water pattas in both husband and wife’s name. We have our branches in all districts of Tamil Nadu and we have intervened in several cases of dowry harassment and domestic violence against women and pursued these case in the law courts. We have our own advocates for legal aid. (A Report on the Human Rights Initiatives 2000-2002 by Steps, documents scores of cases).

Your assessment of human rights of Muslim women?

We have conducted a survey in several areas of Pudukottai and Trichy districts and found that 95 per cent of Muslim women have problems with the Jamaaths. I spent 15 days in the relief camps of Gujarat and met victims of sexual assault during the horrendous riots. It was to my dismay, that no feminist organisation was raising this question. Women have no identity of their own. They are subjected to violence in all communities. I worked in several areas of Nagore and Puukottai which were marred by communal violence. I found five Muslim women had abortions during the violence in Nagore. When I raised it as a human rights issue, the ulema objected to it and said it was an internal matter for the community. We have formed a separate organisation for Muslim women’s empowerment called ‘Saaya’.

(Sharifa Khanam can be contacted at: Steps, Near Union Office, Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu, Ph. 043-220583, 94437-49090).

Face To Face